A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device represented by a flash memory is further miniaturized and it becomes extremely difficult to arrange elements in an area that tends to be reduced.
Reduced minimum line-and-space dimension may generate a problem if an attempt is made to arrange elements that can be arranged with the conventional dimensions in the same position as in the conventional case. Particularly, the bit line dimension may often conform to the minimum line-and-space and components in an area in which bit lines are densely arranged tend to be influenced by miniaturization. However, since the components that are difficult to be arranged are necessary for the operation of the semiconductor memory device, they need to be arranged by an alternative method. Such alternative method also needs to avoid greatly increasing the chip area.